Ltttheb johns



Feb. 23, 1932. JOHNS ENGINE CONTROL MEANS Filed Oct. 14, 1929 V I7622757 02%W Patented Feb. 23,1932 7 UNITED star data;

LUTHER JOHNS, or A3 PARK, ILLinors, nssrcrnon- To RALIPH L'NAFZIGER, ona I .K.A.1 \TSAS'CITY, MISSOURI M q H Y ENGINE contract Mums a V iApplication filed Odtoberl, 1929. Serial lio.399, 581.

These improvements relate to means for automatically stopplng an engine,with particular view to the prevention of undue en gine idling inautomobiles and the. like;

The chief object of the invention s to provide a simple and'eficientcircuit or system whereby such idling will be prevented beyond somepredetermined and usually short interswitch controlled by relativemovements of the seat constituting the drivers operating 26 station; and

Referring to Fig. lthe battery B grounded at G passes current throughconductor 10 to the connection 12, at which placethe'circuit dividesinto whatmay be termed the delay- 25 action branch, the thermostatbranch or the auxiliary branch, marked X, and what may be termed themain branch,} marked Y.

In the main branch current may pass'from.

connection 12 through conductor. 14L to one side of a switch mechanismshown as a plate 15, and it may also pass from connection 12 throughconductor 16 to the other sideof-the' switch mechanism shown as a plate17;, both plates thus being charged.

The gear shift lever 18 of the automobile is to beunderstood as being ofthe usual type.-

having two lateral or operative positions on each side and a central,inoperative or neutral position, in which neutral position it is shown.This lever 18 is illustrated as carrying, in insulated relation to thelever, so as not tobe grounded, a-contact maker 19 adapted to makeelectrical contact with plate 17 when the gearshift 'lever'is in eitherof the lateral or operative positions marked a and b on one side, andalso with the plate in either of the lateral positions cor (Z'ontheother side. j V

The conductor 22, connected to the contact? to maker 19, leads to aconnection at 23 With a conductor shown as a fiatbar or plate 24 adaptedat its free end to make contact with leaf-spring 25 having its free endformed I Witha recess orseat 26 adapted tobe'engaged' and moved by aninsulating roller 27 on'thef manual control lever 28 pivoted at 29;When.- thehand lever 28 is moved into its operative position'as shownbyFi'g. 1 the-spring 25 is flexed and'held by the sprin'giness of thestrip 25 operating slightly beyond the deadcenter i of the lever 28 withrespect topivot 29 wherebycontact is made and maintained withthe 1conductor 24:. Current therefore" passes to the spring 25 and thencethroughconductor 30 to the timer or'interr'upter T and thence to thespark'coil 31,'theprimary of whichis grounded at 32 and the secondaryofwhich 7 is. grounded at 33, the secondary having, a" conductor'34leading to the distributorD and thenceto the conductor 35 to the sparkplug m I 36,- onlyone of such plugs being shown; g

It thus appears-that when the gearshift lever is moved into anyof-itsoperative posi tions indicated at a, 6,0 'and"cZ-,';a circuit will becompleted through' the de'viceq31 and an induced c'urrent'supp'lie dtothe spark plug.

A part of the ignition circuit'thu'sf described has been denominated Yand I shall call that part of it r-which includes conductor 30', and

thence on to the s ark olu section Z.

There is another open path for current to U the spark plug while the,engine is in opera tion, namelythreugh the auxiliary-branch X. Fromconnection 12 conductor4c0 leads to the preferably adjustable resistanceR,

and the current thence passesthrough'jcom ductor 41 and through-theheatingcoil i2' of a current controlled delay-action device shown as athermostat. The heating/coil 42 is connected at li-lwith thebi-nietal-th e'rmd V stat element 44' and the current passes 1 7 throughelement 4 1' to a connection at 45' from which the conductor 46 leads toconnection 23, thus completing the auxiliary branch circuit to theswitch elements 2 1 and having a primary side and a secondary side.

The winding 42 and the resistance provided by the element R are soproportioned that when the engine is normally running to drive thevehicle there will not be suflicient current passing through thethermostat Winding 42 to heat it suiiiciently to flex the bi-metal strip44, downward as the device is illustrated. s

Such downward flexing, due-to sufficient heat, causes the pin 48 to push'upon 'theroller 27 and to dislodge it from the small bend 26 in thespring 25, the spring 25 being thereby enabled to straighten out underits own springtension and to assume its position in Fig. 3 and to breakthe contact-between switch elements 24 and 25.

The foregoing description of the operation contemplated the movementofthe, gear shift. lever to one side or the other, so as to energize bothbranches X and Y, and we have observed that the current flows chieflythrough branch Y during the running of the vehicle. Let us nowjconsiderthe gear shift lever as being moved into its central,

neutral or inoperative position as shown by Fig. 1. Contact is thereforebroken between the contact-maker 19 and both of the plates 15 and 17,and the more direct or substantially. resistance-free line to thespark-producing mechanism is thereby broken. That throws a greateramount of current through conductor 40, resistance R and the heatingcoil142, and this increase of current causes the coil 42 tobecomeheated, and to such effect as to fiex'thestrip 44 so asto operatethe manual switch lever ,28 as described.

The resistance R and the thermostat winding 42 may be of such variousvalues severally and combined as' to provide a longer or shorter delayedaction-for cutting off the sparks as may be desired within the effectivelimits indicated by practice. =In-some cases the engine will bepermitted to'idle for say one minute while in others it may bepreferable to allow several mi-nutes or more to'intervene before theignition circuit is broken.

The occasion for such a device is largely in connection with theoperation of trucks, although it is equally applicable to passengervehicles. Truckdrivers have a habit of per-- mitting the engine to idlefor long PGI'lOClS, as while making deliveries,- getting their.

luncheons,'etc. The present device will automatically prevent such undueidling, with a great saving of engine wear and-tear, oil and fuel,.andthe prevention of much noxious gas discharge in the streetsf I am notthe first, however, to suggest means for accomplishing these desirableresults.

v In Fig. 3 the system is in all respects the same as that shown in Fig.1 with the exception of the switch device in branch Y operatingto breakthe more direct line and thus to throw suiiicient current through theheatingcoil. The parts, and operation of the system of Fig. 3 which havealready been discussed in connection with Fig. l'will be given; the samereference characters, and without repeating much of What has beendescribed. v

' 1 Referring then to Fig. 3,.the conductor 16 leads to a terminalopposite which is'a terminal 51 and these two terminals are bridged bylaconductor-52 movable 'downward by seat 53 when the operator seatshimself thereon. This insulated plate 52 is guided by a'stem54surrounded by a coil spring 55 resting against a support 56 andoperating to raise the bridging plate 52 as well as the seat wherebycontact is broken at 50, 52 and 51when the operator rises from the seat.Conductor 22 in Fig. 3 leads from the contact 51 to connection 23 asinFig. 1.

. According to. Fig. 3 ,when the operator seats himself the circuitiscompleted frombattery through contact makers 50, 52 and 51- and thencethrough the elements already described and to the same efiects. Thenwhen the driver gets off of'his seat, to. unload the truck or to make adelivery consuming considerable'time, the contact at 50 and 51 is brokenand an increase of current passes through the thermostat, with theeffects alreadydescribed, and as is shown by Fig- 2.

When the operatorwishes tov start the engine according. to eitherembodiment shown the lever 28 ismoved by the driver into contact-makingposition. This operation is equivalent to turning the ordinary ignitionswitch-on the automobile dashboard.

The particular thermostatzswitch device and the seatswitch illustratedare severally not of my invention This invention is in a circuit orsystem which-may employ other forms of delay-action means and otherforms of thermostat devices. 'With'res'pecttoithe seat switch, of whichvarious forms have been devised'by another thanmyself, the

present invention is in a system. peculiarly appropriate to such acontrol device. What I deem to be the chief merits ofthe present systemare its notable simplicity and freedom from parts likely to get out oforder, its

possibilities :of convenient embodiment in units or devices readilyapplicable to cars now in use, and all whereby theklesired operativeposition and to break the same circuit when the gearshift lever is inits inoperative position, a current-operated delayed-action device inthe auxiliary branch and adapted to operate said switch means to breakthe circuit in both of said branches when the gear-shift lever is movedinto its inoperative position. V 2. The combination with the gear-shiftlever having an operative positionand an inoperative'position and theinternal combustion engine of an automobile, of a. divided ignitioncircuit for the engine comprising a main branch and an auxiliarybranch,a switch common to both said branches, a makeand-break devicein the mainbranch and under the control of the gear-shift lever to make the circuitin the main branch when the gear-shift lever is in its operativeposition and to break the same circuit when the gearshift lever is inits inoperative position, a" current-operated thermostat device in theauxiliary branch and adapted to operate said switch means to break thecircuit of both said branches when the device having saidcircuit-inaking-and-breaking means is in one of its positions. 7 3. Inan automobile having an engine depending for its operation upon anignition circuit, having also a hand-operable lever de-; vice forconnecting the vehicle tothe engine, and having also a drivers seatdevice, each of said devices being movable into difl'erent positions,one of said devices having operatively associated with it means formaking and breaking a circuit, the combination therewith. of a dividedignition circuit for the engine comprising a main branch and anauxiliary branch, switch means common to both of said branches, saidcircuit-making-and-breaking means being op'eratively in the main branchand being adapted to make the circuit there in when the one of saiddevices associated with said circ-uit-making-and-breakingineans is inone of its positions and to break same circuit when the same device isin another one of its positions, a current-operated delayedactionmechanism in the auxiliary branch and adapted to operate said switchmeans to break the circuit of both said branches when the device havingsaid circuitqnaking-and breaking means is in one of its positions.

4. The combination of claim 1 hereof in which there are also means foroperating said switch means by hand to complete thecircuit through bothsaid branches.

5. The combination of claim 2 hereof in I which there are also means foroperating said switch means by hand to complete the circuit through bothsaid branches. I 6. The combination of claim whichthere are also meansfor operating said switch means by hand to complete the circuit throughboth said branches.

7. In an automobile having adrivers seat 7 3 hereof in adapted to moveup and down andthereby having two'positions. and having aninternalcombustion engine, the combination there-'" with of a divided ignitioncircuit for the ena gine comprising a main branch and an auxiliarybranch, switch means common to both a V of said branches, amake-and-break device in the mainbranch and-under the control ofthedrivers seat and being adapted to make one of its positions.

8. The combination of claim .7 hereof in which there are also means foroperating said switchmeans by hand to complete the circuit through bothsaid branches.

' LUTHER JOHNS.

